South Florida has long been an incubator of big-time, innovative financial criminals of diverse stripes – money launderers, fraudsters, fugitive dictators and a good dose of corrupt officials. That dubious distinction has made the local criminal and civil courts a rich source of novel, groundbreaking financial crime cases. None in recent years more vividly demonstrates this than the landmark lawsuit brought by Coquina Investments against TD Bank.

Coquina was one of many victims of the $1.2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme of former Ft. Lauderdale attorney, now disbarred and imprisoned, Scott Rothstein. The Texas company sued TD Bank in 2011 for knowingly assisting Rothstein, a bank customer, perpetrate his fraud and launder his money.